Wednesday, September 24, 2025

Is a period at the end of a sentence supposed to go inside quotes?

It probably doesn't matter, but I like to be grammatically correct.

Periods and exclamation points are called "a full stop."  

American English

  • Periods and commas always go inside the quotation marks, even if they're not part of the quoted material.

    • Example: She said, "I'm ready to go."

    • Example: I like the word "yes," but not "no."

  • Question marks and exclamation points go inside the quotation marks if they belong to the quoted material, but outside if they belong to the whole sentence.

    • Inside: He asked, "Are you coming?"

    • Outside: Did she really say "I'm not interested"?


British English

  • Punctuation goes inside the quotation marks only if it's part of the original quote. Otherwise, it stays outside.

    • Example: She said, "I'm ready to go".

    • Example: I like the word "yes", but not "no".

    • Example: Did she really say "I'm not interested"?



I think that I like the British way.

It seems to me that the above example ...
  • She said, "I'm ready to go".

Should have the period inside the quotes.





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